|
Sophia did as she was told. It was hard not to
with a gun at her head. She sat up straight, looked right ahead and stayed dead
quiet, which was better than being just plain dead. Though she felt she was
going to be that way in a minute, no matter what she did.
“Who the hell are you?” The voice from beside her
had a thick Italian accent, and he kept the volume low.
“Sophia. Who the hell are you?” The insanely
ballsy answer belied her nerves, and she closed her eyes with regret momentarily
while she wished the comment away. Instead it stayed there, and he pushed the
gun harder against her temple.
“Don’t be smart, girl. What the hell are you doing
here?”
“I’m just, uh, I’m lost actually. Are … are
you going to rape me or something?” She let the fear come out in her voice now
as she remembered that this guy wouldn’t possibly think she was in her
father’s mob. Why hadn’t she thought that a moment ago instead of being
smart? Again she wanted to kick herself, but kept going with the new story,
hoping it would save her now. She let her hands shake and her eyes dart, tried
to make herself cry, and waited for the gun to move. It didn’t, just yet, but
she could tell by the change in his tone that it was beginning to work.
“No,” he replied, his voice softer and sounding as
though he were starting to get worried, I’m not gonna rape you. I just wanna
know what you’re doing here.”
“I just … I told you, I’m lost. I was looking in
the back,” she started to gesture to the back seat but stopped as he put his
hand up for her to stay still, “I was just looking for my street directory.”
There was an awkward silence between them for a moment
as the stranger contemplated her explanation. Sophia felt sweat collecting at
her hairline, and she willed it to drip down her face for him to see it. As one
drop moved down, she felt the gun barrel come away from her head finally.
She didn’t risk turning her head to look at him, but
could see out of the corner of her eye that he still had the gun trained on her.
“You know that guy in the car over there?”
“Where?” She asked, still frozen.
“Over there, on the left,” he gestured to the
window on the passenger side, and she moved her head slightly. She saw Frank’s
red Commodore in the same spot it was before. In her quick glance she could tell
that Frank was not looking at them, so he had no idea that she was being held at
gunpoint. The stranger looked back at her, and she flicked her head back to the
front.
“No. It wasn’t...I don’t think it was there when
I got here. I don’t know who it is.”
“Good. You know any of those people down there,”
he motioned to Palmero down by the bridge with the others. Again she could see
that they had no idea she was being held captive. How could they from such a
distance away?
“No. Look, if I’ve stumbled into the middle of
something here, I’m sorry. I just pulled over and came down here to get a good
distance from the road to look over my maps. Can I just go?” She allowed her
voice to shake even more as she added, “Please?”
There was silence again before the man said to her,
“Okay, but forget what you seen down here, alright?”
“Alright, I will, yes sir.”
She heard him move in the passenger seat and looked
over. He had his hand on the door handle, and as he flicked it to open the door
Sophia reached down into her driver door compartment and grabbed her gun.
“Just wait a minute,” she said coldly as she put
her gun to the side of his head, the tables turned at last.
© Cynthia M. Piromalli
©2004 StoriesByEmail.com
|
